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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26685268">In the Shadow of Fal’Zhardum Din</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CHPrime/pseuds/CHPrime'>CHPrime</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Elder Scrolls Lore, F/M, Tragedy, Tragic Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:40:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,616</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26685268</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CHPrime/pseuds/CHPrime</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Before the War of the Crag, a Dwemer scientist and Falmer soldier speak of things they dare not name.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Falmer/Dwemer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In the Shadow of Fal’Zhardum Din</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ishzanna giggled across the table, her jewelry gleaming in the pale magelight of the small study, illuminating the rigid Dwemer masonry. “Faradei, you’re not supposed to hold it like <em>that</em>.” Her head  lulled onto her shoulder, “Our lexicons are sturdier than your magic, you don’t have to treat it like your firstborn.”</p><p>Faradei’s pale skin could do little to hide his blush as he cradled the cube. “Yes, well. Habits die hard. The monks never allowed me to touch history books without the utmost care, never mind spell tomes. To hold something that is both-”</p><p>Ishzanna’s bracer rapt against the armor hidden under Faradei’s snow white robe as she punched his shoulder. “And I’ve been telling you since before you hid away in that temple that the lexicon isn’t a book! You don’t have to treat it like one!”</p><p>Faradei gave a slight smile. “And as always, I choose to treat it with the utmost respect.”</p><p>Ishzanna rolled her eyes, snorted, and smiled back. “And how much have you <em>read</em>-“ Another snort. “-with that respect?”</p><p>Faradei’s lips thinned as the Lexicon hummed atop his palms. “And so it was that your people were given…“ His neatly groomed eyebrows furrowed and his voice grew quiet. “…the protection of our…addition?”</p><p>Ishzanna frowned. “What? Let me see.” She took the lexicon from Faradei’s hands, and listened to the cube’s silent glow.</p><p>Faradei stood back, regarding Ishzanna, watching as her eyes shone against the lexicon’s subtle glow. She bore the same bemused expression she had borne when he had puzzled over the cube, amusing herself with his ignorance as she always had. Then in an instant, her eyes shot wide, before smoothing over, a strained smile taking its place.</p><p>“Yes, um. I see why you had trouble. This was- It was a bit of poetry I had been reading. It’s difficult to understand for non-Dwemer.”</p><p>“Of course.” Faradei’s small smile had grown shallow. Ishzanna forced a grin. The two held each other’s gaze for a moment, before they both turned away, at a loss. A silence fell, and the faint noises echoing within every Dwemer city took over, things every Dwemer child learned to draw comfort from. The hiss of steam every other minute, the rush of water through pipes, the whir of gears- it was a delicate symphony that took outsiders years to adjust to- when Ishzanna had moved from Mzulft to Fal’Zhardum Din, it had taken her months to acclimate to the new rhythms.</p><p>Other times, the engineers would tinker with the machines, fine tuning and improving older designs. Sometimes it would be subtle, a slight quacking in a piston’s push. Other times the change would be loud, such as when a new steam valve would hiss up every thirty-four minutes. Once Ishzanna had the misfortune of having a boiler installed directly below her sleeping chambers. But no matter how large or minute, be it as loud as a bellowing dragon or as quiet as a gentle step, each shift in the caves would be heard by all who inhabited the Dwemer cities.</p><p>As the silence stretched on the familiar drum of pumps echoed up from under the earth. The engineers had been tinkering again. The beat was off rhythm, just a beat slower. New sounds rushed in to take its place. The soft hammering of pistons whispered through the gentle drip of sluices and whine of fan blades, combining with the subtle moans of-</p><p>Ishzanna slammed her arms down and smiled. “Enough of this. Let me show you the view from the terrace. It’s simply magnificent!”</p><p>Ishzanna threw the Lexicon away, but Faradei smoothy stood up and caught the cube with a delicate ease. Ishzanna’s lips thinned, before huffing.</p><p>“Just leave it be, Faradei. You deserve a break from the accursed cube. Come see the city.”</p><p>Faradei smiled back. “I’d prefer to keep it with me, at least for now. You’ve taunted me with it for all our lives, and I shan’t lose hold of it now that I’ve begun to understand how to read it.” He coughed. “Plus, I still hold onto the promise you gave me all those years ago. For when I could understand it.”</p><p>"Childhood nonsense..." Ishzanna’s lips kept thin for a moment more before grinning widely. “<em>Read</em> a lexicon. Right. Your always one for a good joke. Come on.”</p><p>Ishzanna took Faradei’s hand and led him out of the small study and onto the balcony. Bioluminescent mushrooms were trimmed and framed around the terrace, helping to illuminate the surrounding vista, the glow nearly reaching the ceiling of Fal’Zhardum Din, complimenting the warm glow of the grand artificial sun shining brightly in the distance. In the center of the terrace was a small well of water and magic, gently reflecting the ambient light of the fungus.</p><p>“I am astonished, Ishzanna.” Faradei said, eyes wide.  “Did you cultivate this garden all by yourself?”</p><p>“You are still speaking to the greatest mycologist in any Dwemer hold. Kings beg me to watch over their crop. There’s nothing about the fungi in Fal’Zhardum Din I can’t control. It’s easy to collect spores I work with in the laboratories and repurposes them. Each mushroom you see I have engineered myself.”</p><p>“I believe it.” Faradei’s eyes danced across the patio, between each neatly placed mushroom patch, be they carefully sculpted in flowerpots or allowed to grow artfully wild on the rugged cave rock. His eyes finally landed on the small well at the center of the terrace, it’s smooth hexagonal design a testament to Dwemer stonework. “I must confess, I feel as if your design sparks a sense of ro-“ Faradei’s eye’s snapped wider shifting to a small shrubbery of mushrooms, and his voice grew distant. “You- I- Ishzanna, this is…“</p><p>Ishzanna leaned towards him. “A sense of what?”</p><p>“Nothing, nothing.” Faradei said quickly. “Just- I was going to say something foolish.”</p><p>“Really? You prove yourself a fool every time you pick up the lexicon and now you get cold feet?”</p><p>“Yes, well. I don’t…” Faradei  sucked on his breath. “I don’t want to say anything that might jeopardize…our relationship.”</p><p>Ishzanna smoothed down her clean white dress robes, jewelry clinking. “Really? Risk denotes reward.” She pushed her elegantly braided hair off her bare shoulder, its kohl black color contrasting with her cool grey skin. “I can help you calculate the odds.”</p><p>Faradei hung his head low. Ishzanna smiled wider.</p><p>“You’ve always been terrible at mathematics, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to apply yourself.” Ishzanna crept closer to Faradei’s turned head, her hand gliding along the Dwemer armor covering his body. “last time we were alone together, you managed to win my family’s ancestral armor.” She whispered along the ridge of his ear. “Do you want to guess what you might win this time?” Faradei was rigid. Ishzanna closed the distance. “Come on, Faradei, you know what I-“</p><p>Ishzanna stopped as she caught sight of Faradei’s face. Her smile hung uncertainly, before falling completely. Her eyes which shone with excitement and wonder dulled in dawning horror. She looked down to where Faradei’s eyes fell. A single colony of black mushrooms stood plainly, surrounded by the brilliant glow of their fellow fungi, sucking in the light they produced.</p><p>Ishzanna hand slid off Faradei’s shoulder, stumbling back. Faradei’s eyes did not wander. Ishzanna bit her lip and looked to the door to the study. She swallowed a breath, and remained on the balcony, but distant. That terrible clamorous silence returned, smothering the terrace. Faradei remained stock still, looking down at Ishzanna’s craft. She fidgeted, eyes darting about, looking for some form of relief, but never finding any.</p><p>“The sun you described in your letters…” Ishzanna turned, regarding Faradei with a cautious air. He was looking off the balcony, towards the distant center of Fal’Zhardum Din. Faradei spoke quietly, testing the shape of each word as it left his mouth. “I had always wondered if it’s majesty could ever match your descriptions.” He shifted. “Now that I can see, it is clear that your praise was not hollow. Even from this distance, it is clear the craftsmanship is impeccable.”</p><p>Ishzanna looked away. “Yes.” She turned back to Faradei. “But no matter how brilliant our craftsmen are, it cannot match the real thing.”</p><p>Faradei turned, and their eyes met. Neither seemed to have the strength to look away.</p><p>“Yes.” Faradei’s voice was a hair above a whisper. “Auri-El’s light has no equal.”</p><p>Ishzanna sighed. “You Falmer and your gods…” Her eyes widened. “I- I didn’t-“</p><p>Faradei gave a sad little smile. “Force of habit. I understand.” He looked down at the lexicon still cradled in his hand. “To return to the days when these arguments were all we had to worry about.”</p><p>“Do you still worship your gods? Do you still believe in their kindness?” Ishzanna voice quacked. “After everything that-“ She choked. “-that the Atmorans have done to you?”</p><p>Faradei’s answer was quiet and firm. “Yes.”</p><p>“Why?” Ishzanna bit out. “How can you still believe in gods who have done nothing for you?”</p><p>“Ishzanna…” Faradei growled out.</p><p>Her had gripped his arm. The metal of his armor was cold, like the winters above and the frigid depths below Skyrim. “Any tokens they gave you were never enough to drive out the Atmorans, no boon was great enough-“</p><p>“That was <em>not</em> an <em>invitation</em>.” Faradei hissed.</p><p>“Why are you here, Faradei?” Ishzanna demanded. “Why are you here, in a Dwemer city? Did your gods demand it of you? To receive another gift?” She gave a sharp breath. “What worthless promise will I give you this time?”</p><p>Faradei had grown silent, his face torn between a deluge of emotions. “I…” his words fell like an ice sheet melting away after a long winter. “I have faith.”</p><p>“Faith?” Ishzanna bit out like a curse. “Of all the- faith! Where has faith gotten you? Gotten your race? You stupid, Nord-headed man, faith never got you anything! It didn’t win you the war, it didn’t let you understand the lexicon, not now, not a year ago, not when we were children! If you hadn’t blinded yourself-“</p><p>“Because faith is all that is allowed to me!” Faradei snapped. Ishzanna’s stopped, stepping back. Faradei swallowed, and continued. “With each battle, one more piece of us taken away by the Atmorans. Each victory only lasted long enough for us to taste what we had lost. And then we would lose it again in the next battle.” He locked eyes with her. “But not my faith. Never my faith. And now it is all I can poses. It’s something no one can take from me.”</p><p>“I…” Ishzanna swallowed. “Even if they give you nothing? As your cities burn, as Nord-men slaughter any Mer they find? When your people are-“ She bit her lip. “They cannot save you, let you walk to your doom, and still you wish to keep them in your heart?”</p><p>Faradei looked at her for a few moments, before turning his eyes down. “The Aedra do not bring doom.” His voice was quiet, with a hint of something Ishzanna would not dare to presume. “They have given me many gifts. It is not their fault the Tongues were so wicked or so mighty.”</p><p>“So mighty and yet so powerless…” Ishzanna grimaced. “These arguments about religion used to be-“ Her lips thinned. “They weren’t so sad.”</p><p>Faradei turned to study her face, his own frown deepening her own. He swallowed. “I wanted to thank you again. For gifting me your family’s armor. Despite what-“ He swallowed again. “-resistance you must have faced.”</p><p>Ishzanna’s lough was quiet and bitter. “Father was in hysterics. Mother is apoplectic.”</p><p>Faradei bowed his head. “I apologize for whatever pain your decision caused you.”</p><p>“It’s not- You don’t need-“ Ishzanna sighed. “I can only hope it served you well.”</p><p>“It saved my life from many foes.”</p><p>Ishzanna’s smile was terrible to behold. “You ware it naturally. Like a Dwemer. With the helmet, no one could guess you to be Falmer.”</p><p>Faradei’s lips thinned. “It saved my life from many foes.”</p><p>Ishzanna barked out a laugh. She sat down on her fountain’s edge, looking about the mushrooms surrounding them. She looked down into the pool, staring at her neatly trimmed eyebrows and delicately plucked lashes, and then up to her braided hair held under a shining tiara. “What was I thinking?”</p><p>Faradei’s voice was cautious. “Thinking about what?”</p><p>“About tonight. About me. About accepting research grants. About-“ Ishzanna inhaled, and then wilted. “About everything. Anything.”</p><p>The silence rose again. Ishzanna made no sound. Faradei bit his lip. He looked down to his hand, still gently holding the lexicon. He looked to the balcony. Below, mushrooms swayed and a river raged. Faradei gripped the lexicon tightly, holding it to his eye. Fan blades howled in the distance.</p><p>Faradei looked to Ishzanna, ready to speak before stopping, emotion catching in his throat. He watched her stare listlessly towards her carefully crafted garden, eyes as lost as any Falmer’s. He looked to the artificial sun glowing.</p><p>“Auri-El, I beg you.” He whispered.</p><p>Ishzanna blinked, turning as Faradei walked towards the fountain, placing the lexicon in its center, willing it to float above the water’s surface. “What are you doing?” She asked. “Why even bother? Every time we’ve ever met, you’ve tried and failed to grasp the Lexicon. Why waste your time now?”</p><p>Faradei breathed deeply. “Despite the… hardship I’ve had, I…” Faradei bit his lip. “Even after everything the Atmorans have taken, every cruelty inflicted on me, after…everything.” Faradei looked to Ishzanna, and she looked back. “I can still remember puzzling over this box for days, trying to find an answer in the infernal puzzle box, to understand it…” A storm of emotion passed through Faradei’s eyes. “…So I might…be able to better understand the little girl who gave it to me.”</p><p>Ishzanna bit her lip. “That girl has grown up. Changed. She’s done many things. You might not want to understand her anymore.”</p><p>Faradei bowed his head. “She may have changed. But I don’t think she is as terrible as she thinks she is.”</p><p>“What could possibly make you say that?’ Fan blades screamed in the distance.</p><p>Faradei gave a bitter smile. “I have faith.”</p><p>Ishzanna snorted as she laughed. “You fool.” She bit her lip. “Though I welcome your company. What does that make me?”</p><p>Faradei smiled. “Open minded.”</p><p>Ishzanna laughed again. “Oh Faradei, I swear, you’ll never-“ Ishzanna bit her lip. “…I would ask a favor of you.”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Promise me….” Her lip trembled. “…That you’ll…don’t do anything stupid.”</p><p>Faradei bowed his head. “Solemnly.”</p><p>Ishzanna gazed down at the lexicon. “I can only hope…Faradei, I will continue my studies. I think. There is more to learn.”</p><p>Faradei’s eyebrow rose. “Yes…?”</p><p>Ishzanna bit her lip. “I…I need to know if there is a way to reverse the effects.”</p><p>“…That would require live subjects, I imagine.”</p><p>“…Yes.”</p><p>Faradei exhaled. “Then…” He swallowed. “I will be your subject.”</p><p>Ishzanna’s eyes shot open. “What? No! Faradei you can’t-“</p><p>“I can.” His voice trembled. “I will. I must.”</p><p>“But Faradei…”</p><p>He smiled. “You are the greatest Mycologist in the world, Ishzanna. I have faith. I will endure the darkness, and wake to see you with new eyes.” He beamed. “And I will still be able to practice with the lexicon. It can’t be read, after all.”</p><p>“Oh Faradei.” Ishzanna smiled. “I…I promise that-“ She swallowed something foul, but smiled. “I promise.”</p><p>The two shared something more sorrowful then a smile. Hidden beneath the glow surrounding them, the black mushroom stood silently.</p><p>In the shadows and silence of the city, the moaning grew louder.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It wouldn't go away.</p><p>Inspired by https://www.deviantart.com/alteya/art/Dwemer-and-falmer-280523195</p></blockquote></div></div>
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